Jaco Peyper put in charge of SA Rugby's new elite referees' panel

SA Rugby has established a new "elite" referees panel aimed at better equipping South African officials for progression to the international stage.

This panel will be supervised by Jaco Peyper, a former Test referee. Peyper joined SA Rugby on a full-time basis at the start of the year and worked as a national laws advisor with the Springboks in the 2024 Test season.

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The previous "National Panel" has been divided into two distinct groups - Elite and National. This restructuring is intended to streamline the preparation processes for match officials as they gear up for officiating at international, franchise, provincial, or club levels.

"The idea behind this is to allow more specific work to be done with the match officials on the different panels, while we've also done away with our women's panel as they are now part of the two new panels," Banks Yantolo, General Manager of Referees at SA Rugby, said in a statement.

"The six referees and two reserves on the Elite Panel will be mentored by Jaco Peyper, who was a referee in 67 Tests during his career and has valuable insights to share. Another former Test referee and current TMO Marius Jonker will be their coach.

"The National Panel will be guided by Mark Lawrence and Deon van Blommestein, and it’s their task to prepare the next generation of referees for the Elite Panel."

Elite Panel: Christopher Allison, Aimee Barrett-Theron, Griffin Colby, Morne Ferreira, AJ Jacobs, Marius van der Westhuizen 

Reserves: Sean Muller, Hanru van Rooyen

National Panel: AngieBezuidenhout, Daniel Canhenga, Hernus Coetzee, Charlwen Daries, Juan de Bod, Stephan Geldenhuys, Caleb Hibbert, Cwengile Jadezweni, Jonathan Lottering, Lulutho